by Rose Rushe
Photo: Dr Ursula Callaghan
Chair of Limerick chapter, IGS
DO you know a chiselled newel from a finial pendant from a field & moulded panel? Make familiar with these architectural gems at the Pop Up Museum, No. 5 Rutland Street, one of the finest examples of a townhouse in Newtown Pery’s Georgian Limerick.
For the layman on the street, we signpost the former Glynn’s Butchers, commercial front to a four-storey over basement “very high status house”. It was built by Angell Monsell, banker and Methodist, 1770.
There’s a walk-in invitation to schools and proud citizens of Limerick to view the work of conservation architect Cáit Ní Cheallacháin and Dr Ursula Callaghan, historian and curator. They led the restoration of this 5,000 sq ft monument of grandeur to recognisable dimension and living history.
“We are very grateful to City and County Council and to City of Culture for enabling this project,” Cáit makes clear. “Rutland Street was part of a the new town built where previously there had only been Irish Town and English Town. Limerick is a Georgian Town and this belongs to [the people], this is where it all began”.
As members of the History and Heritage Pillar and of Irish Georgian Society Limerick branch, Cáit and Ursula, with volunteers, pioneered the clearance of the 5-tier mansion. They created brilliant panels that chart the emergence of “a Georgian town built by tradesmen for tradesmen” and growth as a garrison town (“3,000 stationed here in 1800”) where uniforms were made, mills milled and meat mattered.
This Pop Up Museum at No. 5 Rutland Street brings to life the influence of works by great merchants such as Edward Uzold of the Lock Mills, Monsell and Sexton Pery. Architects Colles and Ducarte ruled.
Between them, 1691 to 1840, they knocked out Lock Mills and Park Canal, expanded Baal’s Bridge to take gun carriage and mined our resource of redbrick to build so they could live like lords. These grandees were dedicated followers to fashions set by regent Georges.
Come along to assess what views of the river would have been prior to the impediment of Sarsfield House, with the contemporary Custom House across the street (variously New Street, Newbridge Street according to which map and era) to bolster status.
The co-ordinators at this site, open Wednesdays 4pm to 9pm and each day of the weekend from 10am to 5pm, make the point that the restoration is a work in progress. Admission is free and donations are welcome.
